For a few moments, it seemed as if everything was perfect.
His secret plan to kill the Mage and set up the orphanage had succeeded, and he was going to settle down in the trade family as Dominic to use his skills and rise among the continent to reach the top, and then help all the others who had the same fate as himself.
The one that he had found when looking into that puddle…had been the orphan who had dreamed of changing the entire world, even if it hadn"t made sense at the time.
He had always been someone with grand ambitions, and that was reflected in the way he had picked up the art that he had now perfected instead of lamenting that there was no food like many of the others in their gang.
He used to naturally inspire others to follow him, and he had had a clear vision.
Yet…growing up and facing hards.h.i.+p after hards.h.i.+p had beaten down that person, clouding him in a dense smoke labeled "reality" where he was replaced with someone who had some skills, but would never amount to too much in the vast continent of Angaria.
To reach his goals, he had known that he needed power, but on testing himself, he had found that he didn"t have too much talent in either Path. As a Fighter, he had a little promise, but it was hardly enough to accomplish anything worthwhile.
Hence, he had slowly begun to lose hope, and then, he had begun to compromise.
Oh, I can"t directly do a major scam and repay those who have helped me? Fine, let me try a smaller one.
The smaller one needs me to put in a lot of effort, but doesn"t pay very much? Fine, let"s just get this over with, and see what happens later.
I was chased out of the city? Fine, let me just find another one. Later, I can see how I"ll get my revenge.
Little compromises like these had slowly almost managed to kill that brave, creative and I-don"t-give-a-f*ck-what-happens att.i.tude-filled youth that he had been, and if it hadn"t been for this entire incident, Lan was pretty confident that he would have ended up in an unmarked grave down the road.
Yet…it was his turn to drop his jaw and stare as if he had been struck with a thunderbolt when he saw the Warrior Mage get up and pluck the bolt out, before coughing almost sheepishly, as if he was embarra.s.sed about something.
Huh?
What the f*ck is going on?
Didn"t you die?
As Daneel saw the shock on Lan"s face who was still disguised as him, he was almost tempted to change into himself and point a finger to reenact a very popular scene from back on Earth.
Yet, he refrained himself from doing so, as it wouldn"t make sense, and because he still needed to use this ident.i.ty a bit before the reveal.
The sheepishness was mainly because of the fact that he had allowed himself to be attacked in that manner. Although the poison wasn"t deadly, it had paralyzed him for a second before being eliminated by the system, and that had been the reason behind him falling to the floor.
It had just been something that was so unexpected that he couldn"t have acted in any other way, and for that, he had to give props to the man in front of him.
However, before that…there was something he had to do, and where before he had been loath to do it even though it was necessary, he looked forward to it now, as it was a small portion of revenge for badly startling him like that.
Putting on the actual persona of the paranoid Mage, Daneel got fury on his face and raised a hand, causing an invisible hand to tighten around Lan"s neck in a vice-like grip before lifting him into the air.
By this time, Lan had realized that he had failed, and extreme panic appeared on his face.
This was followed by downright fear as he found himself choking in the air, and after a few seconds, Daneel lightened up on the pressure after seeing that he was in the state he wanted him to be in.
Contrary to what he had thought before, Daneel found no pleasure in this, and that was when he realized that his evaluation of Lan had grown leaps and bounds after seeing his quick thinking skills that had allowed him to take that step to ensure that his attack would work.
Indeed, as Daneel was the enemy that the mage was afraid of, he would definitely have an extended moment of panic when he saw his face.
Even though Daneel had known that Awakening, even when it wasn"t finished, would give the Bloodline Possessor access to their abilities, he couldn"t have known that it would be used in this way.
Putting that behind him, he snarled, "You dare! Tell me, is your blood boiling right now?"
On hearing the question, Lan, who was convinced that it was all over, nodded as he realized that that really was happening.
Wait…had this been happening from before? Had he just noticed it?
No, it must be some spell of this crazy guy to melt him as punishment.
Seeing him nod, Daneel continued in that same tone of anger, with his eyes reddening and his face swelling up.
"This is the fate of all those who cross me. I give everyone a chance to escape the suffering, though. In the h.e.l.l that you are about to face, it is said that knowing yourself perfectly is the only way to remain alive. Haha, but in this age, who can say that they do? Goodbye, foolish conman."
As soon as Daneel finished saying this, Lan lifelessly toppled to the ground.
[Unconscious state has hastened Awakening process. Target has entered the final stage. Probability of success: 95%]
This message made Daneel chuckle to himself, but it stopped in the middle as he was once again reminded of the shock he was subjected to.
Oh, it was going to take some time to get over the fact that someone had gotten one over him. For the moment, though, Daneel was happy to wait for the final stage of the Awakening process to finish.
Indeed, according to the Emperor, it wasn"t just skill in impersonation that was needed for awakening the Bloodline of the Shapes.h.i.+fter.
Any Shapes.h.i.+fter had the ability to mimic not just the appearance, but even the thought process and mindset of the one it was Awakening. Hence, there was a real threat of it losing itself while using its powers, just like in the case with the Phoenix where the risk had been that one might go mad if they didn"t have the ability to endure.
Here, the main focus was to know oneself perfectly, which meant that they could take solace within that perfect sh.e.l.l of their ident.i.ty which would not be broken into no matter how many things surrounded it.
During the final Awakening process, the Emperor had predicted that there would be one final hurdle, where there would be an attempt to stop it from happening. The attempt would be in the form of making the one trying to Awaken it facing all those they had impersonated, but because Lan had already found himself, Daneel was confident that he would get through it.
He didn"t have the time to explain all this before Lan would be forcefully taken away, so he had used this approach so that he would know what to do.
Placing Lan on a conjured bed, Daneel decided to wait.
After the Awakening, all he would need was the blood of the man. He would need quite a lot as the Bloodline was diluted, but with the medical skills at his disposal, he was confident that he could keep Lan alive. Of course, he would first explain the truth regarding everything, and Daneel actually looked forward to doing that.
For this process, the system was already prepared, but he decided to double check anyway.
[Bloodline Extraction Module has been created based on the memories of the Emperor. The same method that was used by the Emperor to implant the Bloodline will be used, and system has judged that host"s understanding of impersonation is sufficient for the minimum resonance that is required for the implantation. Subsequently, host"s Awakening can also be directly induced by using the present understanding and the Elemental fluctuations that were recorded before.]
This was the plan that the both of them had come up with together.
Daneel"s dabbling along with the system was a killer combination that could probably reach up to any test that could be put, and as for using the fluctuations that they had seen before during Lan"s Awakening, it was a clever trick.
If Awakening could be likened to a chemical process, then it was something that needed a condition "x" to be fulfilled before "y" process could begin. Because they had been able to view what this "y" process was, they could now directly use that process instead of waiting for the condition to trigger it, which removed the need for Daneel to perfect his skills as much as Lan had done.
He had to choose this mainly because he was strapped for time, and unlike Lan who had spent a lifetime in the art, he had only dabbled in it. Hence, he had no choice but to use the system and this trick to make up for the difference.
When all was said and done, he would have the Bloodline, and the only thing Daneel was a little bit concerned about now was what Lan was going through: the final test.
Yet, he was pretty confident in what he knew about himself, too, so the probability was quite high that everything would go smoothly.
Putting it out of his mind, Daneel asked the system the question he had gotten when it had given the answer before.
"System, while implanting the Bloodline in me, is it possible to change certain properties of it? Such as adding powers, or tweaking what is already present?"
[Affirmative.]
The answer made Daneel"s eyes widen, but remembering the last incident where he had been hoodwinked by the system, he waited for the continuation.
Just as expected, it was soon heard in his head.
[Complexity of system found to be inadequate for creation of module for the task stated by host. It is estimated that at least two more upgrades will be required.]
2 more upgrades?!
Just the next one was making Daneel almost pull out his hair with the desperation to earn enough EXP to get it, so the one after that was something he knew that he shouldn"t concern himself with.
As Daneel thought about it, he also realized that it made sense. After all, being able to change something like that was a feat that should only be possible by…
His thoughts interrupted by a knock, the King of Lanthanor went to the door to see the bank official peeking in by the time he reached.
His eyes had widened with horror on seeing the unconscious guards, and he figured out, right away, that it was an attempt at robbing this huge sum.
Ignoring everything else, he reached the "panic trinket" that was at his waist, but Daneel caught his hand and said, "Relax, kid. You"re going to contact me if you do that, anyway."
Of course, the official didn"t understand why this old man who looked crazy was saying nonsense, so he began screaming, "KING DANEEL"S WRATH WILL SMITE DOWN ALL WHO GO AGAINST THE BAN-"
"…"
His face beginning to burn, Daneel flicked his fingers and knocked out the guy, as he was not at all interested in a repeat of having his own ident.i.ty used against him.
After that, he sent an update to Kellor and sat down to wait again, while resuming his studies on dragons.
Right before he began this, though, Drakos spoke up.
"Young King, I understand that you would like to find out what being a dragon means. In that case…do you wish to go through my memories, and experience the world through the eyes of one?"